The Nigerian and Cameroonian army have killed 35 Boko Haram terrorists and rescued 603 civilians held hostage.

The joint operation was carried out as part of clearance exercise of troops of Operation Lafiya Dole in troubled North East.

Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, the Deputy Director Public Relations, Theatre Command Operation of Lafiya Dole, said on Tuesday night that the troops took the battle to the terrorists.

The troops, he said, hit the enclaves of Boko Haram at Kusha-Kucha, Surdewala, Alkanerik, Magdewerne and Mayen villages, all situated in the Nigerian – Cameroonian border.

The troops destroyed 15 locally fabricated rifles captured from the Boko Haram fighters and destroyed 4 Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), several motorcycles and bicycles.

Nwachukwu explained that the combined troops also tracked insurgents to Bokko, Daushe and Gava villages, where they unleashed another attack on the fleeing insurgents.

In the process, two of them were killed in the fire-fight and recovered one AK 47 rifle, a magazine, a trolley and some quantity petrol in Jerry cans.

The rescued persons, he said, were undergoing profiling, preparatory to their handover to appropriate officials of Internally Displaced Persons, IDP.